Higgins: Who Should We Fear On 9/11?

“There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tiny blasts of tiny trumpets, we have met the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.” – Walt Kelly

It’s twelve years since the attacks of 9/11, and as we’ve been reminded of again in recent weeks; we know longer know who our friends are, who our enemies are, and who we can count on for support and assistance.

Perhaps those we should be most fearful of these days however, are the enemies we are most familiar with. While the efforts extreme Islam cannot help but be on our mind; more traditional threats go largely ignored. No, I’m not talking about progressives accusations against Tea Party members, or those clinging to their Bibles and their guns. The enemies of which I speak are those in power who seek even more and the frailties of human nature,

Fear the mall cops of the TSA, one of whom was himself recently arrested in connection with threats made to the LAX airport for the anniversary of 9/11. They have become little more than another bureaucratic nightmare, rife with bloated budgets, fraud, theft, and waste; with no results to show for the pain it inflicts. (The government has recently introduced a proposal to allow frequent travelers to forgo some part of TSA’s charms, but only by paying a fee to the government for the privilege.) And while no one talks about it, many have reduced the amount and the way that they travel rather than place themselves at these mercy of all-too-fallible government agents.

Fear instead the incredibly massive data storage facility in Utah being built by the NSA to store information that we were told that the government wasn’t gathering in the first place; and if they were gathering it (by accident) wouldn’t store. Even in light of 2001′s “Patriot Act”, many believe that it’s illegal and a violation of personal privacy for the NSA to gather and store such information; yet we willingly allow it when they insist on violating our rights in order to protect them.

For those of you not afraid of the TSA or the NSA, how about one of the others in the alphabet group. The IRS is still targeting Conservative groups, the NLRB is filled with former union employees targeting businesses that try to open in ‘Right to Work’ states, and the if for some reason you’ve managed to escape one of those, you can almost count on the fact that OSHA or the EPA has you on its radar screen.

Meanwhile local leaders across the country use this day to whine over generous federal grants which they can no longer compete over for terrorist threats that never occur. The Kansas City area as an example, received over $70 million from the Department of Homeland Security funding since 9/11 for such things as Haz-mat suits, radiation detectors, and rescue boats. Toledo (likewise a hot bed of terrorist activity) received funding during this same period for an armored vehicle for use by a special response team. Both have since been dropped for grant consideration with terrorism budgets to cities and states that were slashed by $780 million in 2011.

Even the 9/11 memorial at the former site of the Twin Towers is quickly becoming as much a symbol of waste as it is of those who were tragically sacrificed. By the time it’s completed, estimates of its total cost now look to exceed $700 million (according to the UK Daily Mail). Not to be outdone in sheer excess however, the annual operating budget of the memorial looks to be around $60 million, $20 million of which is expected to eventually be asked of taxpayers. By comparison, it should be noted that the entire budgets of the museum in Gettysburg and the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor combined are less than the $12 million security budget required of this new memorial.

No, we should never forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11. No we should never relax our vigilance to the potential of terrorist attacks. Perhaps however, we should reserve more than a little of our fear, not for those on foreign shores who once breached ours, but for the abuse of power, waste, and loss of freedom committed by the very government empowered to protect it.

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on Thursday, September 12th, 2013 at 2:26 pm and is filed under Opinion.
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Just Blowing Smoke

Just Blowing Smoke: A tale of two cities

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness … “

— Charles Dickens

I have been struck since relocation to the Kansas City area by comparisons between this city and Toledo. Both are border cities, with Kansas City resting on the western border of Missouri and Toledo on the northern Ohio boundary. Both are urban islands in the heart of the farm country in their respective states. Both cities have riverfront views, with Toledo overlooking the Maumee and Kansas City cut by both the Kansas and Missouri rivers. There is even a rather curious and amusing history of Mayors with unusual names, with Toledo’s recently departed Carton S. Finkbeiner and Kansas City’s current leader, Mark Funkhouser.

But while both cities share a genial population and a certain Midwestern charm, there are certainly differences to be found between the two however. Kansas City for example, is one of the two cities that dominate its state of Missouri (along with St Louis ); where Toledo must accept 2nd tier status behind Ohio’s Big Three C’s(Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati). Kansas City leads in comparisons of population with just over 482,000, to Toledo’s estimates in at just over 316,000; and likewise covers a far greater geographic area coming in at some 318 square miles to Toledo’s mere 84.

There are apparently a vastly different philosophies between the two with regard to the priority of staffing safety departments as well. While Toledo’s leaders have put off police classes for years and even now struggle to find ways to finance the addition of 30 new patrolmen in order to maintain its department size at 570, Kansas City is instead looking to add some 100 officers this year (though interestingly enough, the KC police chief only requested 40) to bring its totals to 2,170. In other numbers cited in a recent Kansas City Star editorial (“History shows Kansas City loves hiring cops, firefighters”), the City of Fountains was discovered to have enlarged its police force by some 453 members since 1985, an increase in those twenty-five years almost equal to the size of the entire Toledo department.

This safety department staff disparity can likewise be found in the fire departments of the two (both of which have taken pre-eminence in the area of ambulance service). While Toledo can have 525 in its department by contract, and is currently operating with some 462 firefighters; Kansas City finds itself finds itself with some 1,331 currently filling the ranks of its department. Data gathered by Mr. Abouhalkah for the Star in fact points out that safety department employees in Kansas City now make up almost 50% of the city’s work force.

Not surprisingly, the tax rates used to pay for such services are different for the two areas, though they are not those that one might expect. Toledo residents pay a city income tax of 2.25%, (including both permanent and ‘temporary’ income taxes), where Kansas City takes only a 1% from its residents. Sales tax rates are also different for the two areas with Kansas City living under a higher rate of 7.725%, with some 4.225% imposed by the state, 1.125% to Jackson County, and 2.375% going to the city. Toledo on the other hand, has a sales tax rate of 6.75%, with 5.5% going to the state of Ohio, 1.25% going to Lucas County, and nothing to the city coffers.

Of note in the KC Star piece however is that the question uppermost in the mind of the writer is not the revenue source nor the relative safety of the city, but rather whether additions to safety departments are necessary when so many other services appear to be lacking. In a quote eerily familiar to anyone from the Glass City, Mr. Abouhalkah begins his piece by saying: “Mayor Funkhouser is mayor of a city that doesn’t efficiently collect taxes, maintain parks, fix roads, inspect blighted properties, knock down dangerous buildings, or provide many other basic services.” It requires no real effort to say that he could find kindred spirits with similar concerns in Toledo.

Having read this piece, I am curious now whether the path chosen by Kansas City might be seen as something that Toledo can and should learn from. Should KC’s choices be perceived as a narrative to follow or a cautionary tale to reflect upon as Toledo writes successive chapters to its own story? And while no one can know the end of the tale for either of these two cities, I believe that I will be far from alone in paying rapt attention to the unfolding saga.

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on Thursday, August 19th, 2010 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Just Blowing Smoke, Opinion.
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